With the Maui election just a few days away we’re turning the spotlight again on how some County candidates have their campaigns funded primarily by development and real estate interests, with major supporters on Oahu. Take mayoral candidate Mike Victorino, who has raised close to $400,000. While his campaign accountant proclaims his funding is coming

What brought you to politics? I’ve been a community servant and leader for well over 35 years. My aloha for Maui has been well established. Then came the calling in 2013 and 2014 to be involved in the election involving GMO and pesticides. As a steward of the land I saw it as a duty

The public initiative system is a unique and magnificent tool for grassroots democracy. Four years ago, Maui’s GMO Moratorium made history in a number of significant ways. First, it made local history by becoming the first public initiative effort in Maui history to get on the ballot. It did this through the hard work of

Council Member Elle Cochran, who was the top vote-getter in the 2016 Maui Council election, is running for mayor this November on a platform of revolutionizing County government to create a new culture of transparency and effective collaboration. “Elle,” as she is widely known, makes no secret of her intention of sweeping away a plantation-mentality

This November’s mayoral and Council election finds Maui at a critical crossroads. Voters could allow the old guard, in the pockets of major developers to continue to dominate our County government. Or we could welcome a breath of fresh air with high integrity progressive candidates who care for our environment, seek sustainable, smart growth, and

The upcoming 2018 Maui election offers an extraordinary, historic opportunity to change the power structure that has limited progressive change on our island. The Maui Ohana wing of the County Council – Elle Cochran, Alika Atay and Kelly King – is poised to be joined by another wave of reformist candidates seeking to take Maui

Due to the diligent perseverance of a group of female environmentalists back in the 1920s, Hawaii’s beautiful landscape has remained free of the blight of endless roadside billboards. But come election time local neighborhoods become blanketed with prominent signs by competing political candidates. This “sign wars” as it’s become known was highlighted by Maui mayoral